SU exec. race heats up with second slate

The slate’s formal candidacy announcement for SU executive office will take place in Umrath Lounge on Wednesday, according to a Facebook event created by sophomore Morgan DeBaun, current SU vice president for public relations.

DeBaun will be announcing her slate, which will be called the [open] slate.

Vice President of Administration Nate Ferguson announced his Bold slate’s run last week.

[open] will consist of sophomore Kirsten Miller, junior Eliot Walker, Sophomore John Harrison York and sophomore Cody Katz, who will be running for vice president of administration, vice president of finance, vice president of programming and vice president of public relations, respectively.

“I think we have a very diverse group of people,” DeBaun said.

Walker has served in a different position in SU Treasury every term. He has held the position of Budget Committee chairman and is currently speaker of the Treasury.

Miller has served as a senator in SU since her freshman year and has led many of SU’s initiatives. York has served as a Congress of the South 40 (CS40) representative, and Katz is a first-term senator.

According to DeBaun, the slate aims to have students approach them with questions so that they might cater to the desires of the student body.

“Part of the reason we wanted to announce in public is because we thought it was important for students to ask us questions and ask about our platform,” DeBaun said. “We wanted them to have a more interactive experience with students.”

By making the announcement in public, [open] hopes to make the slate available to the undergraduates.

“We felt like by having this announcement that we could truly be representative of the student body by giving them the opportunity to weigh in on our platform,” DeBaun said. “We want to figure out what students really are for.”

DeBaun expects a good turnout at the event. The Facebook event currently lists more than 90 people as attending.

“We talked to a lot of students over the past two weeks and bounced a lot of concerns off of students,” DeBaun said. “I think we’re going to do well. I would determine success based on how much feedback we get.”

The aim of the event, according to the invitation, will be to “share your thoughts about the State of Wash. U. and discuss ways to improve our campus.” In addition, figures on campus will be discussing pertinent issues such as sustainability and political advocacy.

Ferguson said that he is enthused by the prospects of a competitive SU election this year.

“I’m excited that there will be competition,” Ferguson said. “This is the first time there has been serious slate competion in the last couple of years.”

Students interested in running for an individual position or as a slate must turn in their candidacy packets to the SU office by Feb. 22.